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Visit To Kek Lok Si Temple & Pagoda

Visit To Kek Lok Si Temple & Pagoda – Last night I went to the super famous temple in Penang – Kek Lok Si Temple at Air Itam with a some friends. It’d been quite some times I didn’t go to Kek Lok Si Temple. During the Chinese New Year, Kek Lok Si Temple will turn on all the decoration lighting decoration. It’s very beautiful during this festival.

My visit was not perfect because the Kuan Yin Pagoda Temple was not on, as the lighting decoration at that part of the temple is turned off after the 15th day of Chinese New Year. However, the Kek Lok Si Temple is still pretty afterall. It’s not really a photography trip to the temple for me because I’ve already did a serious photography session at Kek Lok Si two years back.

Nevertheless, I still brought my camera along, Canon 60D mounted with Sigma 30mm f1.4 to shoot, it’s never be bored shooting around at Kek Lok Si. Photography is fun! This time, I take photos of lanterns hanging on the ceiling more. And with a fixed prime lens, it challenged me a bit but luckily 30mm was wide enough to do most of the photography.

For the first time, I went to the pagoda area of Kek Lok Si Temple, I have not been there before on my previous visits. One need to pay an entrance of RM2/person to get there and it’s another beautifully decorated garden at Kek Lok Si Temple. You can also climb to the top of the pagoda to get a magnificent view of Penang too! Super awesome!

Yeah, Penang is pretty right? So do Kek Lok Si Temple too. =) Happy Friday everyone!

February 10, 2012
Bangkok: Cool Retro Coffee Stall @ Chatuchak Market

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Bangkok Trip: Cool Retro Coffee Stall @ Chatuchak Market (Day 2) – One of the cool thing I found at Chatuchak Weekend Market is these retro style & cool coffee stall. The coffee stall is very retro-ish with the use of old manual coffee machine and equipment.

I feel it’s very cool. The Thai barista =D first will grind the coffee bean manually into coffee powder. Then the coffee powder will be cook until certain degree. Only then it’s ready to mix with hot boiling water as well as condensed milk. One cup of this costs only 40Baht with ice and 30Baht for hot beverage. Awesome! It’s so much better than Chatime and Starbucks Coffee!

I want more!

Click here for more posts about my Bangkok Trip.

February 10, 2012
Bangkok: Chatuchak Weekend Market / JJ Market / Jatujak

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Bangkok: Chatuchak Weekend Market / JJ Market / Jatujak (Day 2) – I am sure many people have hear about the Chatuchak Weekend Market in Bangkok. If you haven’t, HOW CAN YOUU??

Nevermind, if you are first timer, Chatuchak Weekend Market, also known as JJ or Jatujak is a famous weekend market in Bangkok and it’s a MUST-VISIT if you happened to be around Bangkok during the weekend as it’s fully open on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

But what if you are on there on weekdays? Actually there’s still stalls open on weekdays but then it’s not 100% perfect wonderful like on the weekend.

On my 2nd day of Bangkok trip, a Sunday, I went to the Chatuchak Weekend Market in the morning (I went here before, this is my third time), about 10am Bangkok time. Took a cab to there and it costs us 150Baht withou meter! On our way back was only 98Baht with meter. OMG. If you are near to BTS, you can stop at Mo Chit Station, if you are near to MRT, you can stop at Kamphaengphet Station or Suan Chatuchak (Chatuchak Park). Very convenient to reach there.

Since we were not near to any MRT or BTS station, we took the cab instead. It was still early at that time, many stalls were only started to open their stalls. I thought Chatuchak opens as early as those wet market in Penang. =D

There’s many coffee stall like this. Very cool.

Heart shape toilet sign.

As we started touring and shopping, more and more people, tourists, shoppers, locals flocked into the market. Do you know Chatuchak Market is very very very super duper big? There’s many sections, and parts in the market and you can hardly explore every part of the market in one day.

In case you want to split up with your friends, remember the section number and gather back at there.

You can find a lot of orange juice in this kind of packaging like this. 20Baht only!

Although the market is organized into different parts which sells different thing, but then we explored the market randomly without checking out at the map at first, which was so wrong as mom couldn’t find the stuff she wanted. Hahaha.

Well, in Chatuchak Market, you can find stuff like, furniture, home decor, super cheap clothing, lots of Thai street food, paintings, households, kitchen utensils, stationery, Thai gift, and even pet! There’s a pet section where you can find many pet stalls. Though, I couldn’t find that section, it’s just toooo BIGGGGG.

Not enough hand to carry your stuff home? You can find many delivery service at there too! I don’t know the price is affordable or not, any of you know the market rate?

Try the coconut ice cream, it’s nice! You get various topping and cheap too!

A little tips for you is that wear light at Chatuchak, shorts, singlets, slippers would be best. Don’t bring heavy stuff, travel with a light camera, get yourself a mini fan, handkerchief & FACE TOWEL (Haha, packs of tissue paper will do too). Yes, I think face towel is a good bring as Chatuchak is really very very hot! Perspiration will break out non-stop as you explore around Chatuchak.

Worms and insects! WT…ftttt. I tried before, not very nice. Very powderish inside.

Pork! Siu yok! Sio bak! Shao rou! Didn’t dare to try. Haha.

Chatuchak Weekend Market is very fun but then dad was not feeling well so we stopped our exploring and shopping in the afternoon. I was so sweaty and sticky at that time and wanted a bath so badly. Though, if there’s chance, I would love to explore the WHOLE Chatuchak Market, it’s just so big! I think I’ve just visited a small part of it. Anyway, I will visit it again, next time, yeah! Want sponsor me? =D

How to go Chatuchak Weekend Market?

Chatuchak market is adjacent to the Kamphaengphet station of the MRT Bangkok Metro Blue Line, or about a 5-minute walk from the Mo Chit station of the BTS Skytrain Sukhumvit Line and another MRT station, Suan Chatuchak (Chatuchak Park).

[googlemaps https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=215278323465761497274.0004b80a852f7e1d51867&ie=UTF8&t=m&ll=13.803002,100.549128&spn=0.005001,0.006866&z=17&iwloc=0004b80a9925dbc700b6b&output=embed&w=640&h=480]

Click here for more posts about my Bangkok Trip.

February 10, 2012
Bangkok: Night Street Market Near Baiyoke Hotel & Petchburi

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Bangkok Trip: Night Street Market Near Baiyoke Hotel & Petchburi (Day 1) – After checked-in to our hotel at Pratunam’s Petchburi area, we went for dinner just right out our hotel, which is Thai food (Tom Yum Restaurant) and it’s pretty good.

After dinner, it’s time to start our night hunt for some street night market at this area. We didn’t really know where has got night market, but instinct tells me that there’s one near the famous Baiyoke Sky Hotel. Baiyoke Sky Hotel is also the tallest building in Bangkok and located about 1.5km from our hotel.

Along the way to Baiyoke Sky Hotel, there’s many street food vendors along the road which serve food like Pad Thai, BBQ, fruits, and more. Since I’ve had my dinner, those food didn’t seem attractive to me by then.

After about 15 minutes of walk, crossed a big road with pedestrian bridge and we arrived the Baiyoke Sky Hotel area, happily, we found the typical Thailand night street market. Hueisean and my mom became excited when they saw a row of clothing stalls. I was then busy snapping around. Nothing seems amaze to me though. You can find the standard Thai’s singlet with Singha beer logo, fake Ralph Lauren, cheap pyjamas, t-shirts and more.

It’s quite interesting to see the night market and you can find some good bargain too. Though, I didn’t buy anything but Hueisean bought a few pairs of cheap ear rings at 20baht/pair.

After an hour of shopping and exploring, we went back to the hotel with tuk-tuk at 80Baht as we were lazy to walk back already. Be careful when sitting on tuk-tuks as they can be fast and be sure to bargain with them first as they always offer high price.

We actually went to foot massage later then at 200Baht/hour, which I think is pretty expensive. You can get cheaper one at 150Baht/hour.

Click here for more posts about my Bangkok Trip.

February 10, 2012
Bangkok Travel Tips: Prepaid Sim Pack For Internet Data & Voice Call

Bangkok Trip: Prepaid Sim Pack For Internet Data & Voice Call – Every time I go to a place for travel, I will buy a local simpack for myself, mainly for connecting to the Internet, searching for local travel information, and updating some of my moment to social media and blog.

Besides, it’s also very cost saving for you and your friends to communicate at the destination as you know call rate through roaming is very expensive. You can also use it for emergency.

In Bangkok, I bought the 1-2-Call prepaid SIM pack from AIS (a telco) which costs 99Baht/simpack itself with 50Baht of credit, and top up an addition of 300Baht worth of credit, total 399Baht. I bought the SIM pack from the AIS counter at the airport once I get through the immigration check point.

It does not include data, but you can subscribe to it at 50baht per day unlimited usage. The troublesome part is you have to subscribe it everyday once it timed, so it’s better for you to set a reminder.

There’s also special data plan for iPhone 4, but that’s on hour basis. If you are iPhone 4 user, I recommend you go to mobile phone shop in shopping centre instead for them to cut the normal SIM of 1-2-Call to micro SIM, then you can subscribe to the unlimited 50Baht per day.

Besides, they also include extra bonus talk time so you have no worry that your data subscribtion has used all your credit.

Find more info here and here.

February 9, 2012
Bangkok: Departure From Penang & Ecotel Hotel

Bangkok Trip: Departure From Penang & Ecotel Hotel (Day 1) – One of the flight that fly from Penang to Bangkok is AirAsia which fly everyday in the afternoon at about 5pm. Penang International Airport is currently quite messy at the moment and noisy with the sound of construction going on at there.

With AirAsia, we’ve checked-in early to the flight early via the Web Check-In Service, but then we still have to verify our document and drop our baggage at the counter. There’s quite many people flying to Bangkok with us too.

After 1.5 hours of flight, I have finally reached Bangkok’s Survarnabhumi Airport. It feels the same as 4 years ago and the airport was so busy with travelers. After passing through the immigration, we went to buy some finger food at 7 Eleven. What’s best about 7 Eleven and mini mart in Bangkok, Thailand is that you can find many finger food especially sausage and pork burger.

Then I went to buy a sim pack for my phone which is the One-2-Call by AIS which costs 399Baht with 350baht of credit. After that we went to the taxi stand to hire a cab to bring us straight to our hotel. Taxi is charged by meter and there’s a 50baht surcharge and another 45baht for toll.

The journey takes about 35 minutes from airport to the hotel I was staying – Ecotel Hotel. You can find the best rate at Hotels Combined.

Ecotel Hotel is located on 1091/333-4 New Petchburi Road 35, Makkasan, Rajthevee, Bangkok 10320, Thailand. Its price is pretty affordable, at about RM120/night for standard room with breakfast. It has a English-style look in the lobby area. The room is quite simple, but most importantly, clean. There’s also over 70 channels on the TV, but most of them are in Thai and boring. Haha.

The hotel is very near to main shopping district of Pratunam, Central World, Platinum are like 3km away. Walking towards the mall is pretty far, but then taking tuk-tuk and taxi are very convenient. There’s many street food stalls outside the hotel and some nice Thai restaurant too. One can also walk to the night street market at Baiyoke Sky Hotel which is about 1km away.

Besides, 7-Eleven is just stone throw away from the hotel too! I realised many taxi driver does not aware of this hotel, you can tell the driver about Ramada Hotel which is a more famous hotel located right opposite of Ecotel Hotel only, then you can walk towards Ecotel Hotel.

February 9, 2012
Bangkok Trip: My Tech & Photography Gear

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Bangkok Trip: My Tech & Photography Gear – I am packed, I am ready. Let’s go to Bangkok now with these gear. I wish I have a Micro 4/3 camera instead of DSLR, I hope I have a MacBook Air in addition to the gear above. =D

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February 4, 2012
Pre-Bangkok Trip: Top 5 Website To Read About Bangkok

Pre-Bangkok Trip: Top 5 Website To Read About Bangkok – In 24 hours, I will be flying to Bangkok, Thailand, the land of smile for a 5 days 4 nights short trip. Although I have been there before 4 years ago, but I didn’t really recall much about it and so I am doing a research again. I found out Bangkok is mainly about shopping, eat, shopping, eat, see, and experience the Buddhist temple. More attractions located out of Bangkok city which I don’t think we have time for it.

Anyway, here are my top 5 websites that I am reading and researching about Bangkok travel.

Trip Advisor, my favourite and must-visit website everytime I go travel. I like it because I can read a lot from the reviews and know which attraction is worth to go and not.

CNNGo, more in-depth recommendation of local attractions, lifestyle and food. It’s more on Asia country.

Lowyat.NET Travel & Living, a local Malaysian forum on discussing travel destination world wide. Can learn more about their travel experience and personal guide.

Chinese Cari Travel Forum, another forum but this one is in Chinese.

Lastly, Google! HAHAHA. But then my favourite is still Lowyat.NET and Trip Advisor.

February 3, 2012
Next Travel Destination: Bangkok 5 Days 4 Nights
Bangkok City Centre, 2008.

Next Travel Destination: Bangkok 5 Days 4 Nights – The last time I went to Thailand was last year at Hatyai, but the last time I went to Bangkok, the capital of Kingdom of Thailand was 2008, that was like 4 years back! I am going there this weekend for a 5 days 4 nights travel trip.

Excited and looking forward to the trip.

Here’s my visiting list, please feel free to introduce some nice place for me to visit:
- Grand Palace
- Wat Pho
- Wat Arun
- Temple of the Emerald Buddha (Wat Phra Kaeo)
- MBK
- Platinum Mall
- Central World Mall
- Erawan Shrine
- Siam Paragon
- Thailand’s Chicken Rice
- Pratunam
- Chatuchak Market
- T&K Seafood @ Chinatown
- Night Market (No idea where’s nice, any recommendation?)
- Chao Phraya River?
Come share with me your Bangkok tips. Thanks!
February 3, 2012
Chinese New Year Eve’s 2012

Chinese New Year Eve 2012 – It has now comes to the 11th day of Chinese New Year 2012. 4 more days and the celebration will be officially over. The great long celebration will come to an end and come back next year.

Chinese New Year is awesome, you hear bing biang boom firecrackers and fireworks everywhere, many shops are closed during Chinese New Year, it’s a big holiday in China, everyone gets money in red envelope, it’s the time where people spend a lot money to buy new things.

I am just so proud to be a Chinese, celebrating Chinese New Year. Well, other culture are awesome too like next Monday will be Thaipusam in Penang.

Anyway, while I still have the chance, Gong Xi Fatt Chai once again. Below are the photos taken during Chinese New Year’s Eve a week back.

All the best in the Dragon’s Year.

February 3, 2012

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